Got an o.k. picture you can post? I'd like to see it. Glad you found him, so you know what happened. I lost a buck with a similar story a few years back. Shot him a little before dark, and tracked a slow blood trail till a little after midnight. I lost the trail when he swam across a river. I found him the next morning by walking a grid search but the yote's had torn him apart. I was able to get the rack and do a Euro mount though. The Coyotes had tore apart his whole hind quarters.
-JAke